


Silver Scale

by AquosEvolved



Series: Guardian of Valla AU [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fear of Abandonment, Five Stages of Grief, Referenced Child Abandonment, Self-Discovery, Strangers to Lovers, Trust Issues, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Vigilante
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-20
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2018-12-31 19:47:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 19,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12139794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AquosEvolved/pseuds/AquosEvolved
Summary: A haunting past that refuses to be forgotten follows behind him; a decision that asks him to turn his back against everything he's believed in and held dear waits for him in the distance. Fate has not been kind to the scion of the Silent Dragons and everything his father taught him will soon be seen in a new light.





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been 18 years since the accident, 16 since Anankos returned from his extended self-isolation. Even still, with all that time having passed, memory is a ghost that haunts and one that shall haunt Kamui once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the true beginning of the Guardian of Valla AU. Heir of Dragons, Heiress of Men was just a taste of what's in store for this AU but now that I'm no longer limited to showcasing the Azurrin aspects, I can delve into the grittier parts of what makes Guardian of Valla what it is. Due to how heavy some of the themes and concepts I'll be working with for the duration of this fic are, this goes beyond being my usual angst and crosses into the territory of being just plain dark. Please consider the tags of this fic before reading. Reader discretion is advised.

     Two figures strode across a plateau long made barren by the sun’s burning kiss. The taller one was clad in light armor and followed behind the shorter, who wore billowing robes. Twilight's shroud left them not but silhouettes against the sky's canvas of amber and indigo, hardly different from the stretching shadows they cast across the ground.

     "Father, what exactly is this...thing that you want to show me?" The taller's voice carried curiosity and anticipation.

     "It's not much further, my boy. Soon, you shall see." The lead replied. This answered nothing, of course, but he knew better than to bombard his father with questions so he held his tongue. The shorter muttered something about forgiving someone but the taller couldn't quite hear him.

     "What was that?" He asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

     "Oh, nothing you need to worry about, Kamui. Just an old man rambling to himself." Anankos shot his son a weary smile over his shoulder. His amber eyes twinkled with a certain light that Kamui couldn't quite name but it sent a shudder down his spine and caused a quiet shiver to rattle his jaw. "Come along, now. I'd rather not keep an old friend waiting." The icy feeling in his gut slowly dissipated as they continued their journey and, when the familiarity of their destination set in, began to be replaced with something else entirely, something made him feel very small.

     The direction they were heading called unwelcome memories to mind and filled him with a mounting sense of dread that came to a head when the pair stopped before a gaping stone maw that rose from the ground to slope down into the depths of the earth. Kamui's gaze became unfocused. His breath hitched in his throat and he felt a phantom soreness as if he had screamed himself hoarse, all the while, the wails and pleads of a child echoing distantly in his ears. He shouldn't be here. He didn't want to be here. Every thought in his mind was telling him to run away but his legs were impossibly heavy. Why was he here? Why here, of all places? He just wanted to go home but he couldn't, not until he made good on his promise. Not until his family was whole again.

     "Kamui!" The young dragon snapped back to attention to find his father gripping him by the shoulders and staring at him with great concern in his eyes. "It's alright, son. I'm here." Kamui let himself forward into Anankos's embrace, darkening the shoulder of his cloak "I'm here."

     "Father..." His whimper was met with a gentle hush.

     "Don't worry, I'm still here." Anankos gently stroked his son's back. "This can wait for another time if being here is a problem for you."

     "N-no." Kamui said forcefully, despite the quiver in his voice. "Yo-you know what this place means to me...so to bring me here despite that must mean this is important."

     "What I have to show you isn't so important that it warrants forcing you through remembering." Anankos smiled sympathetically.

     "I-I've come this far...No sense in turning back now." Kamui broke from Ananko’s arms and did his best to stand tall. "Besides this...this could be a step towards...l-letting go." 

     Now, it was Anankos's turn to embrace his son, looping his arms around Kamui's torso. His long blue locks trailed against his shoulder when he leaned in. Kamui wouldn't be the least bit surprised if his father could feel his heart hammering in his chest but, if he did, he said nothing of it.

     "I am so proud of your courage and optimism." Anankos praised. "Our people are lucky to have you and, more than that, I am so very lucky to be your father." Anankos sounded like he was on the verge of tears and the silver-haired man couldn't tell whether it was from pride or something else.

     "I-Thank you, Father." Kamui stammered. "Can we...can we g-get this over with, though? I'd rather not have to brave this for longer than necessary." 

     "Ah, of course." Anankos broke away and took the lead once more.

     Kamui followed behind cautiously and stopped just short of crossing the threshold. He tentatively reached out, half expecting his outstretched fingers to be blocked, yet again, by an invisible barrier. His reach was met only with air. He pulled his hand back and gazed at his palm, flexing his fingers one by one, starting with his pinky and ending with his thumb. He turned his gaze back to his father and allowed his arm to drop back to his side, where he clenched his fist momentarily. He took a slow, deep breath before wrestling back control and setting himself in motion.

* * *

 

     Unlike the harsh, barren plateau above them, the air in the dark cavern was cool and damp. With a snap of his fingers, Anankos created a small orb of aqua light that hovered above his palm. Kamui's attempts to follow suit only resulted in a flash and a few sparks. While he might have been the fastest and most agile member of his family, his talent with most forms of magic was severely lacking.

     The light Anankos conjured illuminated pools of murky water that were strewn about the cavern, including one that was about seven feet across and right in their pathway, forcing them to slog through water that rose to Kamui's upper thigh. The bottom of the pool was padded with a bed of algae, which was a welcome change from the rough terrain that dug into the young dragon’s soles.

     Up ahead, he could see a collection of crushed rocks and broken stalactite formations. Long slash marks from small claws – relative to the claws of a fully-grown dragon, anyway - were scoured into the walls haphazardly. In one place, a large alcove had been torn into the wall and the long score marks of the alcove’s walls made it seem like something had been digging. Kamui shuddered.

      “Our destination is not much further. Are you feeling alright?” Anankos asked, seeming to have sensed his son’s unrest. Kamui nodded solemnly in response and took several seconds to realize that his father wouldn’t have seen that. He gave a light shake of his head, feeling foolish.

      “I’ll be okay.” He murmured. It was nice to know his father cared and, while it wasn’t unlike him to be doting, his now-constant worry for him served a paradoxical end and intensified his unnerved state.

      The further into the depths they ventured, the greater the evidence of destruction; branching pathways were blocked by caved-in rock, the score marks in the wall were deeper and less frequent, suggesting that what had torn into the rock face had battered the same place again and again and again.

     They crossed another natural threshold and, all at once, the trail of destruction ceased entirely. The rock walls once again looked smooth and touched only by time. There were no crushed rock formations or claw marks. Even the very atmosphere felt less oppressive. Kamui released a quiet exhale and let go of a breath he didn’t know he had been holding.

     Anankos led them directly to a rather flat but otherwise nondescript wall and held his hand to signal for Kamui to halt. He stomped his boot against the earth thrice, slowly and rhythmically. Each sound bounced off the high arching ceiling of the cavern and the echo seemed to carry on forever behind them.

      “You may enter.” A male’s voice called from the other side of the wall. Anankos stepped forward and phased right through the wall before him. Tentatively, Kamui followed.

     Beyond the illusory wall was a small, round chamber. At the center was an altar and before it stood a man in brown robes who turned to face the newcomers as their footsteps met his ears.

      “Anankos, old friend. It is good to see you.” He was elderly looking, with a receding head of gray hair and an unkempt beard.

      “Likewise, Rochromaht.” Anankos lowered his hood as he greeted him. “But today is not a day for formalities. Is it ready?”

      _Rochromaht?_ Kamui thought in confusion. That had a more powerful, ancient ring to it than the ones he had known the humans to use but this man hardly looked to be one of his people.

      “Yes. I have restored its sealed power to the best of my abilities.” Rochromaht turned back to the altar, which Kamui now noticed was lit by candles glowingly dimly in a vast array of colors. When he turned back around, a sheathed sword with an ornate handle rested against his palms. “Alpha Yato, the Phantom Sword of Fate.”

      “This weapon is your birthright, Kamui.” Anankos said, turning to the young dragon in question who responded by looking down at him with a baffled expression. “Take it.” He stepped out of the way and watched expectantly.

      “A gift for the Prince of Silent Dragons from I, the Rainbow Sage.” Rochromaht knelt and stretched out his arms to present Yato to its rightful wielder. Kamui stepped forward and took it. Slowly, he removed the sword from its gold and cerulean sheath. The blade gleamed in the darkness with a pale blue aura.

      “I…Thank you, Rochromaht.” Kamui stammered as he returned Yato to its sheath and clipped it to his belt.

      “Do not thank me just yet, child.” The Rainbow Sage said sadly as he rose. “There is a reason that you received this sacred blade.”

      _A sacred blade? My birthright? A reason this has been given to me?_ Kamui’s mind raced and he stared forward with an awestruck expression.

      "What do you mean?" He finally managed to force out.

      “I will explain later. For now, we must go.” Anankos’s tone matched his posture: uneasy and rigid.

      “Anankos, before you leave I must ask once again. Are you certain this is the only path to peace?” Rochromaht’s tone was a stressed, warning one.

      “While I wish with every fiber of my being that it didn’t have to end like this, I have seen what I firmly believe to be every possible outcome. Being able to put off walking this path for as long as we have is a blessing.” Anankos stopped in his tracks but did not turn to face his friend.

      “So, your answer today is the same one it’s always been?” Rochromaht mused with a low hum. “So be it.”

      “Farewell, old friend.” Anankos murmured before stepping through the illusory wall.

      “Farewell…” Rochromaht echoed.

      Kamui felt the pit of his stomach drop and his blood run ice cold. He looked from the Rainbow Dragon to the wall his father disappeared through repeatedly before his gaze settled on the exit of the chamber and he took off running after his father.

      "Goodbye, Kamui…” Rochromaht called after him, saying something about forgiving someone but the young dragon couldn’t hear him over the sound of his own heartbeat in his ears.

      He skittered to a halt to avoid crashing into Anankos, who had quickly realized that he hadn’t been following him and had stopped to wait for him. When the panting had subsided and his breathing stabilized, Kamui opened his mouth to speak but Anankos held up a hand to stop him before all the thoughts in his head could come spilling out.

      “This is neither the time nor the place to talk about this.” His voice was strained and tired. “For now, let’s just go home. It’s been a long day.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still shaken from the events of the previous night, Kamui finally gets the beginning of an explanation for why he was given Yato and why his father has been acting so grim but it's not exactly the clear-cut explanation he was looking for.

     “I know you’re upset, dear, and I know this will hurt our people’s relations with the humans but this isn’t the answer.”

     Kamui looked up from where he sat on the floor playing with a set of wooden blocks to see his parents near the door. Mama’s hands were gently resting on Papa’s shoulders.

     “I can’t stay. I’m just going to endanger you, Kamui, and especially this little one.” Papa laid his hand against Mama’s swollen belly, where his little sibling was. He didn’t really understand how they got there or why they were in there instead of out here but Mama assured him it wouldn’t be long before he had a playmate.

     “Anny, please. I need you here now more than ever.” Mama sniffled. “Please, don’t go.”

     “Go? Whewe is Papa going?” Kamui asked, continuing to stare up at his parents, curious innocence in his eyes. Wherever he was going, Mama didn’t seem to like it and that was enough for him to decide that it wasn’t anywhere good.

     “Kamui…” Papa sounded very sad; like he was trying not to cry. “I need you to stay here…Stay here and take care of Mama for me while I’m gone. Can you do that for me?”

     “But…But whewe are you going?” Both Papa and Mama were sad and Kamui didn’t like it at all.

     “A place where I can’t hurt anyone.” Papa turned away to face the door.

     “But you nevew huwt anyone. You don’t have to go.” Kamui pushed himself to his feet and stumbled over to grab hold of Papa’s cloak and try to pull him away from the door.

     “I hope you can forgive me, someday.” Papa said quietly. He opened the door and started to leave, prompting Kamui to tug at his cloak even harder. “Kamui, please let go…This is for your own good…”

     “No!” Kamui shouted, stomping his foot repeatedly as he did so. “You have to stay!” He stumbled ever further forward to hug Papa’s leg.

     Papa sighed and snapped his fingers. Then, Kamui’s legs felt heavy and gave out from under him and he landed hard on his bottom and started to cry. Papa turned to give one last look at his mate and child before striding away.

     “No!” Kamui cried after him. “No, come back! Papa!” Fat tears were already rolling down his cheeks when Mama stooped over and picked him up, though she struggled given the swell of her stomach. He wailed as Mama gently stroked his silver hair and shushed against it, though the _shhhh_ s she whispered to him were a lot less even than they normally were.

* * *

      Kamui awoke with a gasp and sat bolt upright to find himself breathing hard and breaking out in a cold sweat. He dragged both hands through his knotted, drenched locks and squeezed his shut until his breathing started to normalize.

     _That was eighteen years ago._ He reminded himself as he slowly untangled his hands from his silver hair. _That was eighteen years ago and things have changed. Father came back. Father’s still here._

     His gaze moved from the blankets covering him to the sheathed sword propped against his dresser. The golden hilt glinted in the dawn light that filtered through the curtains of his bedroom’s sole window. He quickly looked back to his blankets as staring at the sword only filled his head with the ominous words exchanged between his father and Rochromaht.

     Whatever those words meant, whatever reason the two had for giving him Yato, sitting in bed wouldn’t clear his mind of the situation. Kamui tossed his blankets off himself, lazily swung his legs over the side of his bed, trudged across the room to his dresser to grab the first tunic he laid his hand on and slipped the fabric over his head before pushing through the curtains that separated his bedroom from the rest of his cottage, grabbed the empty wooden bucket in his kitchen, and headed out the door to almost run face first into someone on his doorstep.

     “Ah, I see you’re already up! Good morning, Brother!” Lilith greeted cheerfully. As usual, her black and blue hair was tied into a braid that was resting on her shoulder. Only, now, it was dripping water onto her dress.

     “Good morning, Sister.” Kamui greeted in turn. He reached down and ruffled her wet hair, causing her to grumble and scowl at him.

     “Cut it out, we’re not kids anymore.” She huffed as she reached up to smooth out the indentation he left.

     “That may be, but you’ll _always_ be my widdwe sistew, Wiwy.” He reminded her in a sickly-sweet, child-like voice that earned him a punch on his arm. “Okay, I deserved that.” He conceded as he stooped over to pick up the bucket that he'd dropped in surprise. “Did you come by at this early hour just to give me an opportunity to annoy you or did you actually have a point in coming here?”

     “Well, you and Father were gone for over half of yesterday so I wanted to come by and check on you.” Her eyebrows scrunched in worry as she studied his face. “Are you alright? You look exhausted.”

     “Well, you know me. I’ve never been a very sound sleeper.” Kamui's shrugged, causing his shoulders to brush the spiky hair hanging off to the side from the back of his head. He headed off in the direction of a nearby stream and beckoned for Lilith to follow him.

     “You’re a terrible liar. Has anyone ever told you that?” She giggled slightly but was too concerned to laugh any harder than that.

     “You. You’ve told me that many, many times.” Kamui pointed out flatly, prompting a few more giggles. “I really don’t want to talk about it.”

     “You’ve been having nightmares again, haven’t you?” Lilith rested a hand on her brother’s shoulder. He responded with a low, single-toned hum and nothing more. “I guess you weren’t really lying, then…” He responded with the low hum again.

     “Do you know if Father is awake yet?” He looked at Lilith from over his shoulder to find her fixing him with the same scrunched, concerned face. “Lily, they might stop me from forgetting but they’re still just dreams. I’m fine, I promise.” She leaned into him and with her arms slightly outstretched. Kamui put his bucket down and pulled her into a hug.

     “If you ever want to talk about it, I’m here for you, okay?” She wrapped her arms around his torso and rested the side of her head against his shoulder. “Promise me you’ll come to me if you need to talk, okay?”

     “I promise.” He shuddered slightly in her embrace.

     “I love you, Brother.” Lilith murmured.

     “I love you too, Sister.” Kamui replied.

     When he broke away from her embrace, he turned back to the path that led to the stream, grabbed his bucket again and headed off once more, only now he was much more at peace.

     “Where did you and Father go, anyway?” Lilith asked, prompting a sigh from Kamui. Just when he was starting to be at peace again…

     “The western plateau.” He replied tensely.

     “O-oh…” Going by tone alone, Kamui knew he didn’t have to look to be able to tell she was making that worried, scrunched-up face again. “But…both of you know what that place means so why would he…?”

     “I don’t know, I honestly don’t. He had me meet some friend of his who gave me a sword.” His voice carried a bitterness to it that he hadn’t really noticed inside of him until now.

     “Oh. A sword. It’s not like you don’t already have two of those that you don’t keep in near perfect condition.” Lilith’s petulant sarcasm would have brought a smile to her brother’s face if she weren’t unknowingly quoting his inner thoughts but even then, at least someone knowing how he felt was a nice feeling. “I can’t believe Father would do such a thing; forcing his son to remember his futile fight against being completely _abandoned_ for what I guess was supposed to be their lives, all in the name of giving him a _sword_.”

     “Oh, this wasn’t just _any_ sword given to me by just _any_ one, Lilith. This was the Phantom Sword of Fate given to me by the Rainbow Sage and I was told it was my birthright and that there was a reason it was given to me.” Kamui’s tone was now much like his sister’s; petulant sarcasm but with a singsongy twist. Despite himself, he cracked the faintest of smiles.

     “Oh, it was the Phantom Sword of Fate, your birthright? Well, that changes everything!” Lilith took on Kamui’s same singsongy tone and that got him to chuckle a little bit. “There’s a reason you got this sword, huh? I wonder whatever that could be!”

     “Something that is not a matter that either of you should ever joke about.” The siblings jolted and slowly turned around to find their father looking rather cross. Through his immense lifespan, Anankos had learned great patience and was not someone who was quick to anger so the sharp tone he took with his children immediately made them nervous.

     “Kamui, after you’re finished with whatever you have planned for the morning, bring Yato and meet me at the Castle Overlook.” The uncharacteristically sharp, commanding tone in Anankos’s voice persisted. Kamui gulped and nodded silently in response. Satisfied, Anankos turned away and left.

     Kamui’s grip on the handle of his bucket tensed until there was a _crack_ and splinters dug themselves into his hand and blood began to trail along his palm. He gritted his teeth and slowly let a tense breath out through his nostrils. His sister patted his shoulder gently and he shifted his eyes to look at her in his peripheral vision.

     “I’ll be helping Mother teach magic to the young ones again today so, if you need either of us, you’ll know where to find us.” The only response she got, again, was the same low, monotoned hum. Accepting it, she walked away to leave her brother alone with his thoughts.

     _Why is Father acting like this?_ Kamui thought. He was normally calm yet cheerful but ever since yesterday’s meeting with Rochromaht, he’d become serious and unexpressive. _I can’t just be imagining it but…what changed?_ For someone so warm and open to suddenly become so cold and reserved hurt. Dwelling on it was causing a hot, cramped feeling to grow in his chest and spread to his limbs but how could he not dwell on it? He looked at the splinters dug into his palm and how the blood just below the surface trickled out at just the slightest of provocations. _I can’t let him close everyone away again. I have to get him to open up._ His hand drifted to his side to grip the dragonstone hanging from his belt and a cool feeling began to course through his veins. He forced the spreading chill back, allowing the growing heat within to fester until his body started to change. He knew that getting Father to open up to him would be a challenge and that he’d need his head to be as clear as he could get it.

* * *

      “I’m here, Father, and I've brought Yato as you asked of me.” Kamui announced after audibly clearing his throat. Anankos turned his gaze from the human’s city of Lydeus in the distance to look at his son with heavy-lidded eyes. “Are you feeling alright, Father? Your eyes have such a tired look to them.” Not exactly the subtlest way to try to get him to speak his mind but it wasn’t the only strategy the young dragon had in mind.

     “You needn’t concern yourself with my wellbeing, son. It’s not something that I cannot handle.” Anankos offered a faint smile but it was betrayed by the rest of his face and the tone of his voice. He turned back to looking out over the miles of fields and forests between the mountains and the humans’ city and towering castle. “What do you see out there, Kamui?”

     “I see untamed wilderness and what the humans built on top of it.” He replied without a moment’s thought and then had to refrain from covering his face with his hand. _Of course, that’s not what he meant._ “Oh, uh, I see something that’s captured my curiosity for a very long time. What do you see?”

     “I see uncountable lives, each worth protecting.” Anankos answered after a long, uncomfortable pause. “Lives I can’t risk endangering again.”

     “What do you mean “endanger?”” Kamui flicked his crimson gaze from the distant city in the north to his father, whose face was just as rigid and unexpressive as it had been since the previous night. _Well, he told you what he sees, so you’re at least getting somewhere._ The young dragon reminded himself. _One step at a time, Kamui._

     “You remember when I accidentally destroyed the Brightwood, yes?” Anankos finally asked after a long pause, each word spoken deliberately and carefully.

     _Are you kidding me? This has to be a rhetorical question._ Given the persisting silence, it wasn’t. “Yes, of course.” Kamui couldn’t help but cringe internally at his unintentionally biting tone.

     “I believe you are finally ready to know the full truth of what happened on that fateful day. Allow me to borrow Yato for a moment and I will be able to explain this much easier.” In his shock, Kamui took several seconds to process the request before unsheathing the golden blade and handing it to his father, who began to use it to etch messy and rather simple drawings in the dirt around them.

     “As you know, we, the Silent Dragons, possess extraordinary power.” Anankos chose to represent their people with something that vaguely looked like a deer with wings. “However, this power is almost too much for our own good, so we bond our power with dragonstones, allowing us not only to keep our power in check but also to switch between our natural forms and forms that resemble humans at will.” Anankos drew a stick figure next to the supposed dragon, though the size difference was nowhere near accurate given that the two were roughly the same. “Over time, we’ve learned that, if we do not routinely let our powers free, we become aggressive and might temporarily lose control.” Kamui was tempted to say something about already knowing all this but figured that his father had a point in reminding him. “Sometimes, this uncontrollable rage can be truly catastrophic, which was especially true of the rage of the First Dragons.” The young dragon snapped from his state of barely paying attention.

     “I know of the destructive rage of our people but who are the First Dragons and what do they have to do with the accident?” Despite the incredibly sore subject being brushed upon, Kamui would have been lying if he were to say that he wasn’t curious about these so-called First Dragons. Mostly, however, he was just confused as to why they were brought up.

     “Allow me to explain and you’ll soon know just how much they were involved. Some say they created the world from nothing, others say that came into being at the same time as the world. Whichever the case, the First Dragons were twelve dragons of power immeasurable. They held control over elements such as water, thunder, and fire, ice, wind, and earth, and many others.” Anankos drew a series of symbols in the dirt to represent a few of these elements; a droplet for water, a lightning bolt for thunder, a flame for fire, a snowflake for ice, a cloud for wind, and a boulder for earth.

     “Such phenomenal power came at a great cost, however, and the First Dragons soon began to go mad for they had held their powers within to try to stop themselves from destroying the world they built and the humans that lived alongside them. As their madness built, a great war soon erupted. At the war’s outset, the First Dragons, the lesser dragons they spawned, and the humans who worshipped them grouped into two factions; one led by Byakuya, the god of Light and Thunder, who was joined by the gods of Wind, Spirits, Life, and the lesser goddess of Fire.” Anankos drew a snake with arms and wings to represent Byakuya and, in a semicircle to his right, drew a cloud, a swirl, a heart, and a small flame.

     “The other side was led by Anya, the goddess of Darkness and the greater goddess of Fire, who was joined by the gods of Ice, Earth, and Death.” Anya was represented by what looked like a crocodile with a bunch of holes in its head and, in a semicircle to her left were a snowflake, a jagged rock, and a skull.

     “That’s only nine, what of the other three?” Kamui was also tempted to ask where his father was going with this, still not knowing what a great war between dragons had to do with a forest being crushed, but ultimately decided to hold his tongue.

     “I’ll explain in due time, just bear with me.” Anankos’s voice began to once again carry his usual patience, which came as a great relief to his son. “As these dragons waged their war, their rage only built and became even more uncontrollable. Soon, the factions shattered and it was every dragon and their followers for themselves. The first of the First Dragons to fall was the Ice Dragon Hothur who, after being slain by Anya, corrupted the land in death to turn a once cold but otherwise fertile prairie into a frozen wasteland where very few things could grow. In this chaos, where their gods, land, and very lives were not safe, the humans grew fearful. Understanding their plight, one of three still sane First Dragons forged five weapons for the humans to use should the need for them to wage their own war against the dragons arise; weapons capable of piercing a dragon’s scales and even capable of taking the supposed immortal life of the First Dragons.” Anankos drew five stick figures, each with a different weapon: one with a sword, one with a longer, curved sword, one with an even longer, straight sword, one with a bow, and one with a rectangle that was probably supposed to be a magical tome.

     “Having done his best to ensure humanity’s survival, this Forge Dragon journeyed across the sea to a land far in the south where the Water Dragon and his followers tried to set up a new home.” This new land was represented by a jagged square with squiggles on either side to represent waves. “The last of the three unaligned dragons was one with immense power over the arcane forces of the universe. Known as the Astral Dragon Moro, this arcane dragon used his power to tear this new land from reality and settle it in a pocket between dimensions. Here, the three dragons banded their power together to create a barrier that could not be crossed without the blessing of one of the three.” Anankos drew a circle around the waves and land.

     “With his power spent and with no attachment left to the world, Moro used the last of his power to shed his physical form and leave this realm, thus eliminating the risk of his power driving him mad. The Forge Dragon shed almost all his power for the same reason and chose to live under the guise of a human but, along with the Water Dragon and the lesser dragons that followed the Water Dragon, kept a watchful eye over the humans.” Anankos drew a stick figure and a group of dragons, one larger than the others. With that, he returned Yato to the hand of its rightful wielder.

     “Did the Water Dragon also shed his powers?” Kamui asked as his father took a moment to collect his thoughts.

     “At first, he planned to but he quickly realized that, without him, the humans would be doomed if any of the other First Dragons managed to take their rampage into the new land. He vowed to serve as an almighty guardian of the land the humans called Valla.”

     “But the Water Dragon saw what happened to the other First Dragons so why would he risk losing himself to madness and becoming the very thing he swore to protect the humans and lesser dragons from?” Kamui still struggled to wrap his head around the situation, this dragon’s decision to stay in this realm and with all his powers seemed like an entirely different sort of madness but madness nonetheless.

     “I’ve thought the same question many times throughout my life if I’m being honest.” Anankos let out an amused scoff. “The only thing that kept the Water Dragon from following the path of the Astral Dragon or the Forge Dragon was one of the few powers shared by all dragonkind: clairvoyance. Through this clairvoyance, he saw a vision of a potential future where he lost the battle to retain control over his powers but, just as all hope seemed lost, a dragonkin wielding a sword that gleamed like the dawn struck him down before his reign of terror could begin.”

     “How do you know all this, right down to the dragon’s very thoughts? Is this story even true?” The more he thought about his father’s story, the more exasperating it became. He knew his people were very long-lived and he knew his father was the oldest in their tribe but how could he possibly know so many details of the time before Valla? Surely, details would have faded throughout the ages from this story being told and retold so many times.

     “The answer to that question is quite simple. Though, to call him the Water Dragon would be to not use his name or his proper title.” Anankos allowed another small smile to grace his lips. “I know this because his thoughts are my own; they are the thoughts of the Silent Dragon Anankos.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the reveal of his father's identity, Kamui must now come to grips with his part to play in the cruel machinations of fate.

     “Wha-...wait, you?!” Kamui’s jaw dropped. “ _You’re_  one of the First Dragons?”

     “I am.” Anankos let out a soft chuckle at the look of wonder in his son’s eyes.

     “But that would mean…” Kamui’s eyes darted to the shining golden sword in his hands and his expression quickly became one of horror. “No…That can’t be…”

     “Yes, that is why you’ve been gifted with Yato.” The Silent Dragon closed his eyes and his smile faded. “You are the one fated to stop me and the hour of your destiny is nigh.”

     “No. No, no, no, this has to be some kind of mistake!” The young dragon’s voice and hands trembled. “Why must it be me?!” He pulled his gaze from Yato back to his father, searching for any sign that the apparently age-old dragon was playing some cruel prank.

     “Yato is one of very few weapons capable of ending the life of a First Dragon and not just anyone can wield it. It must choose its wielder.” Anankos opened his amber eyes once more and Kamui saw the same spark in them as he had the previous night and realized now what it was; it was a look of regret.

     “…and you had a vision of me wielding it…” Kamui lowered his head and his bangs shadowed his face. He was met with a low, monotoned hum. “If that’s the case, I don’t want it…” He slipped Yato back into the scabbard hanging at his hip.

     “Kamui, I understand that this is a lot to grasp, especially the burden of such a task but…”

     “But what?!” Kamui demanded, his head snapping to meet his father's gaze. “What if it was the other way around? Would you kill me if you foresaw a  _possible_  future where you had to stop me?!” Tears were streaming down his reddened cheeks and his whole body shook.

      “If it was for the greater good-“

     “I don’t care about the “greater good!” I care about my family!” He could feel the cramped, hot feeling of draconic rage building in his chest as he hollered at the top of his lungs. Then he broke. His screams of rage turned into sobs of despair.

     “Kamui, please try to understand. This doesn’t mean I don’t love you…” Anankos rested a hand on his son’s shoulder but he forcefully shrugged it off.

     “What about Mother? What about Lilith?” Kamui choked out between sobs. His voice was small and broken. “If you’re really so eager to leave your mate and children behind again, why did you…why even bother to come back at all?”

     “I know that must have been very hard for you, your mother, and your sister…” Now it was Anankos’s turn for his gaze to fall and for his voice to grow quiet. “In my despair over losing control and wreaking such havoc, I thought it was the best thing to do…That wasn’t the right answer, though.”

     “Did it ever cross your mind that this isn’t the right answer either? Well, did it?!” The spark of Kamui’s rage reignited. “In all the time since you’ve had that vision – decades, centuries,  _millennia_  – have you ever even  _once_  thought that your son being fated to kill you isn’t the right answer?! It feels like I only just got you back from your last wrong answer and now you’re asking me to lose you again?!”

     “I’m sorry…” Anankos’s voice was barely audible as he hung his head in shame. He stepped closer and tried to pull his son into a hug. Kamui responded by pushing him away and stepping back.

     “The other two First Dragons in Valla actually took measures to prevent this instead of leaving it up to a possible fate of being slain so why didn’t you?!” Kamui leveled an accusing finger in his father's direction. The rage building within him began to take over and his tail sprouted to lash behind him impatiently, the fins adorning it scouring the sandy soil as it whipped back and forth. “You could have given up your powers, you could have ascended, but you did neither and ask me to kill my own father instead!”

     “I had plans to ascend, that’s why I left.” Anankos admitted, his voice still a ghost. “Ascension requires unfaltering conviction and even the slightest of reservations will prevent it. My ties to this world are far too great to let me leave it.”

     “What about shedding your powers, like the Forge Dragon?! Or do you also have a convenient excuse for that too so you can go back to asking your son to kill you in cold blood?!” Kamui’s thoughts were becoming uncontrollable; animalistic and wild. He reached for his dragonstone and held on so tightly his fingers started to turn white. The welcome chill began to spread through his veins but it was incredibly slow and had to fight for every inch.

     “Rochromaht didn’t shed his powers so much as he split his soul in two; one stayed in his true dragon form, the other was a form much like our own.” The look of regret on Anankos’s face intensified as he recalled what followed. “The dragon half of his soul was nothing more than an empty vessel. It had no reason, only a mindless urge to destroy. For the good of all, I was forced to bring the beast down.”

     The tears that had been visibly welling in Anankos’s eyes finally spilled over. There was a long pause filled with nothing but the shuddering breathing of the two dragons and the rhythmic sound of Kamui’s tail dragging across the ground. With a deep breath, the younger dragon straightened his posture.

      “What if I could bring down your dragon form? Even before you gave me Yato, I’ve always had a talent with swords. If I could do what you did, is there a chance to save you?” Kamui allowed the frail, brittle hope within him to creep into his soft voice. It was an incredibly slim chance but it was still a chance.

     “You are strong, my son. Even without the blood of the First Dragons flowing strong in your veins, you are still strong from your strength of spirit. Were circumstances different, I have little doubt you would become the greatest warrior the Silent Dragons have ever seen and one of the strongest mortals to ever live.” A smile flickered at the corners of the ancient dragon’s lips but it vanished as quickly as it came. “Without the other four Divine Weapons to restore Yato’s true power, however, not even you would stand a chance against my unfettered wrath. Even if, by some machination of fate, you did restore Yato, the odds would still be heavily against your favor.”

     “I really wouldn’t stand a chance against you alone, would I?” Kamui loosed a quiet sigh. “If that’s the case, then I’ll meet with the Vallite Royal Family and I’ll come back with an army!”

     “Kamui, that’s not what I-“

     “I might not be able to stop you alone, but I won’t have to!” Despite the young dragon’s now prouder posture and louder, more controlled voice, this newfound confidence was a mask as opaque as glass.

     “You would send an army just to keep me in your life?” Anankos moved to face the distant shapes of Castle Gyges and the city of Lydeus that surrounded it.

     “If that’s what it takes, then yes. I refuse to lose you again!” Kamui clenched his free hand at his side.

     His father hummed thoughtfully. “You would send an army to their deaths? You would send innocent lives to die before a rampaging dragon?”

     “I…That’s not-“

     “Thousands perished amidst the chaos of my clash with Rochromaht. If what you suggest comes to pass, history will repeat itself and countless innocents will lose their life for one.” Anankos flicked his eyes to watch his son’s mask crack in his peripheral vision. “Are you truly willing to sacrifice so many lives given how likely it is that it will all be in vain?”

     Anankos turned his head to meet his son’s eye and, try as he might, Kamui couldn’t hold against his father’s intensely questioning gaze. His breath audibly hitched in his throat.

     “There…there must be another way.” He insisted. “There must be a way to save you.”

     From the look on his father’s face, Kamui could tell that he wanted to disagree but didn’t have the heart to do so. In all his life, the young dragon had never seen his father look so broken. His gray cloak shifted as he reached out to lay a hand on his shoulder. This time, Kamui didn’t move.

     More tears spilled from Anankos’s eyes as he tried to offer his son a faint smile. Kamui sniffled and lunged forward into his father’s embrace.

     “I am so very sorry for thrusting this upon you so suddenly…” Anankos murmured. Kamui said nothing as he moved to rest his head on his shoulder. “I’ll give you some time to prepare yourself.”

     The silver-haired dragon let out a shuddering breath and nodded against his father’s shoulder.

     “I love you, son…”

     “I love you too, Papa…” 

* * *

 

      Kamui studied his reflection closely. The dim candlelight behind him cast shadows on his face, outlining the sharper features of his face, making him look more intimidating. He carefully adjusted his collar and then the large bluish-silver brooch at his sternum that helped hold his twin capes in place.

     His enchanted form-fitting armor glinted in the candlelight as did his ruby eyes. Kamui closed them and took a deep breath; slowly in through his nostrils and even slower out through his mouth. He grabbed the sheathed Yato blade leaning against his dresser and fastened the ornate scabbard to his belt.

     Satisfied, he took one final fleeting glance at his reflection before blowing out the sole lit candle in his entire house before brushing through the curtains of his bedroom and striding through his living room, out the door, and into the gentle white light of the full moon above.

     He wound his way through the mountain passes his people called home until he reached the Castle Overlook. Kamui turned to take in the sights of the only world he had known up until this point, easily making out the house his parents lived in from where he stood.

     “I’ll find a way to save you, Father.” He whispered to the wind. “I promise.”

     Kamui turned back towards the precipice before him. Even under a full moon, he could hardly see the forest in the distance. The humans’ castle and city beyond that were entirely shrouded in darkness. He took several steps back, gripped his dragonstone in his left hand, and focused.

     He focused on the despair he felt when his father left, he focused on the awe and adoration he felt when he met Lilith for the first time, he focused on the overwhelming joy he felt when his father came back. He focused on everything he didn’t want to lose. He focused on everything he wanted to protect and willed his body to change. He reared up and crashed down on all fours.

     He unfurled his wings, charged at the land’s edge in front of him, and took off to soar into the dark of the night and towards his destination: Castle Gyges.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter holds two personal records:  
> 1\. Shortest time span between chapters (20 days)  
> 2\. First time I full on cried while writing.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kamui begins his pilgrimage to Lydeus, unaware of what might wait for him in the world beyond what he knows. With no knowledge of what the future holds, the only certainty is the unwavering conviction in the depths of the dragon scion's heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for such a long wait! I got increasingly distracted every time I sat down to write this chapter and when I did put myself to write it, I had a lot of trouble figuring out what direction I wanted to take. I'll go deeper into that in the end of chapter notes. This chapter is a little shorter than I wanted it to be, unfortunately. Regardless, enjoy.

     A dragon with extensive flight experience could fly for upwards of four and a half hours without stopping, even despite the thinner air of high altitudes. A dragon with extensive flight experience knows how to maintain and change altitude, maneuver the air currents, and use small movements for course correction. A Silent Dragon with extensive flight experience could almost feel as at home in the skies as they do on land or in deep water.

     Kamui was not a dragon with extensive flight experience, however. He had cleared the mountain range proper and was soaring over the upper reaches of the foothills when a downdraft threw off his balance and he turned and flipped out of control. He dropped into a spinning dive and began to flail his limbs and flap his wings wildly. The ground below him was coming up faster and faster with every passing second and he began to panic. He wracked his brain, trying to remember what to do in a situation like this. The first thing that came to mind was to pull his limbs in to concentrate his mass but that only served to worsen his situation by increasing the rate of his downward acceleration. He closed his eyes and braced for impact and, in one last desperate move, he straightened his wings out and angled them to try to redirect his momentum.

     Kamui let out a surprised yelp as he suddenly lurched from his dive. With anxious hesitation, he opened his eyes one at a time to find himself looking at the forest’s treeline and glimpses of a starry sky through needle-laden conifer boughs. He closed his eyes again and breathed a sigh of relief and then came to a sudden, painful halt. He let out a grunt as he slammed headlong into a tree and then fell like a rock, snapping multiple branches with his monstrous weight on the way down. When he hit the ground, the wind was knocked from his lungs and his breath escaped him in the form of a low groan.

     With a flash, the large, sprawling body of a winded dragon vanished. Kamui laid on his stomach and wheezed. He tried to push himself to a stand but the pounding pain in his head and constricted feeling in his chest forced him back down.

      _Guess I’m staying here for a while, then._ He thought.  _Might as well get comfortable._  It took an inordinate amount of effort but he managed to roll himself onto his back. The full moon bathed everything around him in a pale cascade of silvery light and made his equally silvery hair look like it was glowing. The sea of stars that surrounded the moon seemed almost dim in comparison. According to his mother, some sects of his people believed that the stars were the spirits of ascended dragons that kept vigil over their kin from beyond this plane. Kamui had hardly ever believed that but if it were true, they probably were looking down on him and thinking him quite the fool right about now.

      _No, I am no fool._  Kamui assured himself. “I’m no fool, you’ll see.” He told the sky before letting out a short, bitter laugh. He was talking to the sky, he was a fool regardless of whether or not anyone else thought so. He continued to laugh bitterly as he picked himself off the ground and climbed out of his crater. It was a sharp, cracked laugh, hoarse and strained, leaving him breathless when it died down.

     He really was a fool. He left under cover of night, running away into the darkness with no idea where he was going. He abandoned his duties to his people as the son of the tribe’s Chieftain. He left without saying goodbye. Knowing his mother, she’d worry herself sick. Lilith wouldn’t be much better off; with how close she had always been to him, if he didn’t know any better he’d guess that she might come looking for him and that was not a thought Kamui wanted to entertain. She was an adult now and perfectly capable of taking care of herself, same as he, but the thought of his little sister alone in the wilderness because of him made him anxious beyond words. His father would probably be the most affected because he would know that he left because of him. He’d most likely bottle it up and not tell anyone but if he never came back, the guilt would surely drive him mad.

     Then again, he already _was_ going mad, that’s why he made this decision in the first place. Vanishing without a trace was the only option; if he told anyone where he was going, they’d try to stop him, they’d try to coax an explanation out of him. He wasn’t ready for that, for the news would surely break his mother’s and sister’s hearts, the same as it did for him, the same as it did for his father.

     _Is this really any different?_ Kamui asked himself. _If I told them, it would break their hearts but vanishing like this will do just the same._ His expression hardened. No, he couldn’t think like that. He was going to come back and put this all in the past. Worrying about someone leaving again was one thing but worrying about them dying is something else entirely and, as far as Kamui was concerned, his father losing his sanity was no different from him dying; the proud chieftain, loving husband, and caring father he was now would cease to be.

     “I will find a way to save my father.” He promised himself. “I will set things right again.” Kamui’s convictions were reignited but he did not have the energy left to follow them. He didn’t want to rest after making such little progress but he’d lost his orientation so the odds of him going the wrong way and getting lost were not in his favor. He loosed a sigh and he dropped himself to sit with his back to a tree. He let his eyes fall closed, just for a moment, and began to hum a familiar melody to himself.

_Born of bonds and sea foam, rocked to sleep in tide’s flow, the sea is your cradle, the sand is your…_

* * *

     Kamui groggily pried his eyes open to see a cloudy sky lit by the gray of early dawn. Blinking the sleep from his eyes, he realized couldn’t have slept for more than four hours but waking up without being pulled from his sleep by a nightmare was a refreshing feeling. He was haunted again and again by the memory of the morning his father left. If it wasn’t that, his dreams were filled with visions of losing his mother or his sister, sometimes both in the same dream. He took his unusually peaceful slumber as a good sign, allowing the feeling of waking up relatively calm to fill him with hope.

     Kamui picked himself up and stretched, forcing his arms back and his torso out until he felt the satisfying  _crack_  of his shoulder blades popping. He then doubled over almost immediately from the sharp pain that shot down his spine.

     “Guess being propped up against a tree isn’t the best place to take a nap but it’s probably better than just being on the ground…” He grumbled. He looked around for the distant looming figure of his home to get his bearings and set off on a slow trudge down the hillside. As his stiff joints loosened up, that slow trudge soon became a hastened walk, which gave way to a confident stride, and finally, he broke out into a run, moving like he had a purpose.

     With no concrete plan in mind, little to no knowledge of human society, and his mission being clocked on borrowed time, he wasn’t at leisure to stroll across Valla and reach the city of Lydeus “eventually.” His stubby manakete legs could only move so fast and cover so much ground with each step. The trees around him were a tad too dense for proper flight, as the previous night’s near-concussive incident had demonstrated, but he didn’t need to fly.

* * *

     It was still very early in the morning – the sun was still touching the horizon but just barely – when Kamui came to a rest by a creek. He craned his neck down towards the waters’ flow and began to drink. A sudden shout startled him from his relaxed state. He lifted his head and his antennae perked up when he heard more shouting. The voices were coming from across the stream.

     He crept forward, splashing through the creek slowly. His eyes narrowed and searched the trees for movement. Rather than the hard and determined eyes of a young man on a mission, they became that of a predator on the hunt, searching for the slightest of signs to betray his quarry’s location. His antennae perked up and he listened intently.

     “Don’t move! Just stay right where ya are or the brat gets it!” A guttural, hate-filled voice spat.

     “Nnngh! Stop! Papa, make him let me go!” A child’s voice cried out.

     “Shuddap! I’ll letcha go after my partner finishes lootin’ yer cart and that’s if – and only  _if_  – your papa doesn’t try ‘nd stop us!” The guttural voice roared.

     Kamui had heard enough. It was obvious enough what was going on and he was not going to stand for it. He charged through the rest of the stream and briefly wove his way through a stand of trees to stand before a camp on the side of a dirt road. At one end, there was a horse with leads tied to a tree and a man dressed in a dirty green tunic and a pair of equally dirty brown trousers. He stood in a tense but unthreatening stance with his feet apart and his hands held up to be parallel to his head. At the other end of the camp, there were three people – two men and a boy – and a horse cart packed with several burlap sacks and a few crates. One man – who had lanky limbs and was of middling height – was rifling through the various bags and crates held by the cart, the other was bald and short and held the boy, who could be no older than eight or nine years old, judging by Silent Dragon standards, in a headlock with a jagged, rusty looking knife held mere inches from his throat. The one going through the contents of the cart looked up at just the right moment and his eyes widened to the size of saucers when they alighted on Kamui’s hulking presence.

     “Wh-what the h-hell is that?” His stammering brought the attention of the others and all eyes were then on the looming figure of the silver and cerulean dragon.

     “Th-there’s no way…” The bald one dropped his knife as well as his jaw. “They’re ‘sposed to all be in hiding after what Anankos did…”

     They couldn’t see it but Kamui’s eyes darted between the four humans in front of him and then snapped to the lanky one that had been going through the cart, who had suddenly thrown down the bag he had been picking through and leapt from the cart.

     “It ain’t worth it! No loot’s worth being dragon food! Run while ya can!” He took off on a mad dash down the dirt road. His partner released his hostage and followed suit quickly.

     “Papa…I’m scared…” The boy was quivering worse now than he had been when he had a knife to his throat.

    “Don’t move, son. Dragons can’t see so they have to use those antennae they have to find their prey. If you don’t move, it won’t be able to find you and it’ll lose interest and go away.” The man in the dirty clothes assured. Kamui swiveled his neck to look at him and cocked his head quizzically. He was a keen hunter, a proud warrior, and, more importantly, had just saved this man, his son, and their belongings. So why was he being treated like no more than a mindless beast?

     “Humans aren’t good eatin’ and we don’t have anything to give you. You get on outta here.” The man commanded, making a sweeping motion with his hands.

     “Why do you assume my intentions like that?” Kamui asked. His voice echoed and rumbled and generally came off a lot more threatening than he intended to be. The two humans shielded their eyes from the sudden flash of Kamui transforming. “I wanted to ask you if you knew the quickest way to Lydeus. Do I just follow this road here or would it be faster to cut across the countryside?”

     “Now why would you want to know that?” The man demanded, putting his hands on his hips. “I haven’t been there in years but I reckon your kind won’t be too welcomed there after Anankos destroyed the Brightwood. Wasn’t too long ago that more than half the kingdom was living off crumbs because of what he did so I don’t think anyone’d be too keen on forgiving and forgetting so soon.”

     “R-right…I suppose I wouldn’t be welcomed, no.” Kamui’s expression fell and his eyes followed suit to stare at the ground. “But my question still stands. I think giving me directions would be fair compensation for scaring off those brutes.”

     “I don’t owe you anything, dragon.” He made the sweeping motion with his hands again and spat out the word “dragon” as if it burned his tongue.

     “Hey, I saved your son’s life! You would be wise to show a little gratitude!” Kamui shifted into a slightly more aggressive stance. He had no aggressive intentions but how flippant this man was acting was starting to get under his scales.

     “If you think that one act of kindness is enough to repay all the damage your damn god did to my people then you’re less sane than he is!” The man’s face contorted in virulent hatred. “Now get out of here!”

     Kamui loosed an aggravated sigh. “Very well, then.” Without another word, he turned around and left.

      _This feeling…being hated and alienated for something that wasn’t my fault…Is this how Father felt all those years ago?_  He pondered. He shook his head at himself.  _I can’t think like that. I know I did the right thing so it shouldn’t matter whether or not he showed any gratitude._  Even with that in mind, he couldn’t help but feel hurt, no matter how much he tried to remind himself that dwelling on the negative could very well be his undoing just as it was almost his father’s.

     He emerged from the stand of trees to find the sloping ground around him begin to level. He raised his head and could make out the towering shapes of Lydeus and Castle Gyges in the distance. His destination was still a ways away but he could clearly see it now. Once he reached the city, his real quest would begin.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The trouble I was having with finding direction for this chapter was in regards to how soon I wanted to set the groundwork for part of Kamui's character arc. The fear and lack of gratitude towards him that he faces in this chapter will set the table for many things to come as well as help me tie up some loose strings between Silver Scale and some seemingly random events that took place in Heir of Dragons, Heiress of Men that I thought I might have to declare non-canon.
> 
> Heir of Dragons, Heiress of Men was really just a testing bed for Guardian of Valla in two ways: 1. Deciding which direction I wanted to take and how I wanted to go about it (generally lighthearted with the focus mostly being on Kamui and Azura's romance was decidedly not the direction I wanted to take) 2. Test readers' interest in the concept (the feedback I got was above and beyond even my highest hopes! Those who followed me during AzurrinWeek helped make this happen because of their support). Post-AzurrinWeek, I winded up retconning a lot of things between finishing writing for Day 7 and starting to write Chapter 1 of Silver Scale, with even more retcons happening since then. A sizeable chunk of said retcons will be messing with the timeframe. Heir of Dragons, Heiress of Men was set on a really weird and indeterminate timeframe while I have (almost) every significant event of Silver Scale and the time between them mapped out so there are bound to be some inconsistencies between the two fics. In case of inconsistencies, always defer to Silver Scale unless stated otherwise.
> 
> Oddly enough, a fair amount of the decisions I made about retconning the timeframe happened when I was in the hospital, high as a kite due to oxycodone and the lingering effects of the anesthetic they used to put me under. I've checked and rechecked since then to make sure these retcons don't seem like something only a high person could think of so don't have any worries about that.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despite the dire straits and everything that was at stake because of them, Kamui can't help but stand in awe of just how strange and alien everything feels, as if he's crossed into an entirely different world. That's not to say that these new experiences have banished his troubles from his mind entirely, but even when you're on a mission of life or death consequences, sometimes it can be hard to not stop and smell the roses.

     Three slow, rhythmic knocks echoed through the abandoned stone house and when they faded, a second trio of knocks sounded. “Brother, you have to get up! I know you love your sleep but this is ridiculous; it’s already past noon!” A voice called from just beyond the walls. After a third set of knocks resounded and faded, the front door creaked open and a pair of gleaming golden eyes peered in.

      “Kamui? Hellooo?” Lilith called towards the back of the house. There was no response. “You seemed pretty upset yesterday, is everything alright?” Again, there was no response.

      “I swear, if he’s still asleep, he’s gonna wake up to his bed soaked with cold water.” The blue-and-raven-haired girl muttered to herself. She walked to her brother’s bedroom and threw aside the opaque white curtain to find his bed unoccupied with the covers drawn neatly. A quick sweep of the room and she noticed that his armor was gone, as well as that weird sword he got a couple days ago.

     _He’s probably just out hunting or sparring with Orohca or something._ Even if one of those were true, such secretive and reclusive behavior was uncharacteristic of him. He’d been acting strange recently and it left her with an uneasy feeling in her gut.

     She tried to just shrug it off. Maybe he didn’t get as late a start to his day as she thought and she just barely missed him.

* * *

     “Missing? What do you mean? He’s not still asleep?” Mikoto looked up from the tunic she was repairing – it was covered in dirt stains and a hole had started to fray in the side so it was likely Kamui’s, damaged during sword practice – to meet her daughter’s eye with a bemused look.

     “From the looks of things, he’s already been up and about.” Lilith explained. “But that’s what makes it so confusing; if he’s already awake, why hasn’t anyone seen him at all today?”

     “It’s not like your brother to avoid us like this. Has he mentioned anything unusual to you?” Mikoto set her needle down and the look in her soft brown eyes turned from confused to concerned.

     “He’s been acting weird ever since he visited the western plateau with Father the other day and he mentioned something about a sword, which he seemed pretty upset by.” The young dragon nervously played with the end of her braid, wrapping the black strands around her fingers. She could easily recall the pained smile on Kamui’s face as he laughed bitterly about the situation and that made the uneasy feeling in her gut intensify. “Speaking of which, when I went to his house to wake him up, that new sword of his wasn’t there and neither was his armor. It’s like he just grabbed what he could carry and left.”

     “I’m sure he hasn’t gone far if he has left. Maybe he went hunting to test out his new sword?” Her mother was much better at hiding her emotions behind a smile than her brother, but one does not know someone their entire life without learning the telltale signs of them hiding something. Even if the raven-haired dragon knew something that she didn’t, prying the truth from her would be an exercise in futility. It would be easier to move mountains than it would be to get her mother to tell a secret she wasn’t ready to tell.

* * *

     Kamui quickly found that the experiences offered to him by the plains were an interesting change of pace from life in the mountains. For one, unlike the stone passes where he grew up, the open freedom of the plains allowed one to see for miles in pretty much any direction at any given moment. Another very noticeable difference was that the terrain; while not soft by any means, the soil was much softer in comparison to what he was used to. What patches of loose dirt that could be found back home were typically hardpacked. More noticeable than that, however, was that there were plants _everywhere._ The plains and rolling hills were sunken beneath a waving sea of grass that stretched as far as the eye could see, dotted by trees and bushes.

    Even the air itself was noticeably different from home; the taste and smell of it were unfamiliar, sweeter.  It carried traces of tree sap, flowers, and the faintest scent of wild animals as opposed to the scents of mineral deposits and spring water. It _felt_ different as well in that it seemed like it pushed down on him, which had resulted in frequent headaches so far. These new experiences certainly weren’t bad, just new and unfamiliar. Except for the headaches, those were definitely bad; over the past several hours, he had to stop to rest occasionally in the hopes that getting off his feet for a while would alleviate the pounding pain in his head. His near-concussive experience from the night before certainly didn’t help anything, either. That brought him to where he was now: sat in the grass with one hand cupped around his head.

     Kamui shifted uncomfortably in the tall green stalks that surrounded him and, once again, found his gaze pulled to the south. It hadn’t even been an entire day yet and he had already started to feel homesick. Aside from a trip to visit the Royal Family of Valla that was so long ago that he could barely remember it at all, the young dragon hadn’t ever really ventured beyond what he knew.

     Kamui looked from the natural towers in the south to the unnatural towers in the north and focused on what little memory he had of when he visited Castle Gyges with his parents but most of what came back to him was a series of vague splashes of color, mostly shades of blue, white, and gray. What he did remember was that his mother and father wished to join their friends, the king and queen, in celebration of…something. _I think it was too early in the year to be the anniversary of the foundation and, by extension, that would make it much too early to have been the anniversary of the end of the War of Unification. A birthday, maybe? That doesn’t sound right, either; and this was before my memories of when Mother was expecting Lilith so it can’t be that…_ Well, whatever it was, one of the very few images he could properly recall was looking up at his parents’ faces to see them both smiling, so it had to be something incredible.

     It was such a vivid image in his mind. His parents weren’t even close to being stoic but he didn’t think he’d need both hands to count the times he remembered seeing them smiling that broadly. There was that time at the mysterious celebration in Castle Gyges, then there was the smile that his mother had on her face when she held Lilith in her arms for the first time, the smile his father had when he saw his family again after two years, the smiles when his sister called their father “Papa” for the first time, his parents’ proud smiles when he fully shifted for the first time, and after Lilith’s first successful spellcast. One of his favorites of these was looking back to see his parents beaming at him after the first time he’d managed to push his sword master out of the arena, which took ten years of training to accomplish and, even then, he'd just barely managed it and had seen limited repeat incidents in the four years since that first victory.

     Swordplay was a human combat art and, due to magic and the raw power of their true forms, it wasn’t a common practice for dragons. Regardless, he’d been fascinated by it since he first learned of it. Lucky for him, his tribe was home to Orohca, one of the only Silent Dragons to ever be recognized as a master swordsman by the humans. Kamui began to study with Orohca as his master from the age of seven and he was still his student even after leaving, far from ready to be considered a master in his own right. Compared to Orohca, nobody could be considered a master; it wasn’t possible for a human to live long enough to even come close to his one hundred and seventy-five years of study and his fellow dragons had no interest in swordsmanship.

     It was an odd, coincidental set of circumstances to have a childhood interest in swordplay and grow up that close to the “Primal Blade Master,” as the humans apparently knew him as. It was such an odd set of circumstances that it could only have been a machination of fate to prepare him for, as Kamui’s father had called it, his birthright.

     This led him to glance to a tree a short distance behind him, where Yato stood in its sheath, propped up against the trunk. It seemed childish, but he couldn’t help but scowl at the sword. _Destiny…what a stupid concept._ The thought that his life’s course was decided by anyone but him left a bitter taste in his mouth. It was this bitter taste that gave second meaning to finding a way to spare his father: proving him wrong; prove he didn’t have to resign to some predetermined destiny, that he could…no, that he _would_ make his own fate.

     The young dragon decided it was time to prove his dedication to his cause to himself, prove that he would never need this stupid sword and that he would never resign to what it stood for. Kamui took the Phantom Sword of Fate in his hands and slowly unsheathed it. He took a few test swings and watched the blade’s blue glow slice through the twilight. Turning to the large rock he’d been resting against, he took a slow, deep breath and raised the sword above his head. With a guttural battle cry, he swung down with all his might and closed his eyes as he braced for impact.

     The shriek of metal against stone reverberated through the countryside and Kamui felt the jolt from impact shudder up his arms and rattle his chest. He opened his eyes and, to his shock, Yato was still in one piece and the rock he had tried to break it against had been cut down the middle, almost to the point of being entirely cleft in two. What’s more was that, not only was Yato still in one piece, there wasn’t so much as a scratch on it.

     He stood there, dumbfounded. He then began to realize the sheer stupidity of what he had just tried to do; Yato was created to pierce dragons’ scales, so it only made sense that it wouldn’t have any problems piercing rock. If Yato couldn’t cut through stone, how would it possibly fulfill its duty and bring down a First Dragon?

     He turned Yato over in his hands and, having only actually used it for the first time mere moments ago, was astounded at how natural it felt to wield it. The balance was unlike any other sword he’d ever wielded, the hilt fit in his grip comfortably and naturally, and the length of the blade felt perfect. Whether he was willing to choose to follow the destined path set before him or find another one, it was impossible to deny that he could only have been fated to bear Yato.

     “Acting a fool yet again, Kamui.” He berated himself with an amused huff as he slipped Yato back into its scabbard and returned it to its place at his hip.

     The young dragon stretched his arms up over his head and, as he did so, glanced at Lydeus in the north again, at the mountains in the south, and back to the mountains. Considering he hadn’t even been traveling for an entire day yet, he had already gained a fair distance towards his destination. Since the incident with the bandits from that morning, he had allowed little to distract him save for food, water, and rest, none of which were things he had much of in the past several hours.

     A breeze blew towards him from the east and he breathed in deeply, drinking in the scents of his surroundings. The scent of prey carried on the wind’s breath made him realize how hungry he was. Whatever it was that he caught a whiff of, it would be hard to find in the tall grass but that wasn’t so bad. The challenge of any hunt brought almost as much satisfaction as the meal that followed.

* * *

     Though far less of a challenge than he had hoped, Kamui’s hunt had been successful. Afterward, he was quickly lulled to sleep by a combination of his full belly, the slight ache in his limbs, and the throbbing pain in his head.

     The young dragon stirred from his slumber as the scent of smoke filled his nostrils. He rolled onto his back and pried his eyes open with a slothful slowness. He quickly shook off his drowsiness, pushed himself to his feet, and looked around; a thick haze of smoke blanketed the land in every direction around him, rendering his sight useless. He gripped his dragonstone and morphed his head to make use of the superior senses of a dragon and, the moment he did so, his antennae perked up; he could sense something out in the smoke. Sleep had his senses too dulled to be able to tell where it was, but he could feel it was out there. Against his better judgment, he called out to it. “Hello?”

     Whatever was out there, it had started to move and, while he still couldn’t pinpoint it, he could feel it creep closer with each passing second. Kamui shifted into a loose battle stance and reached for the sword at his hip only for his hand to meet nothing but air. A panicked glance down confirmed that Yato was missing from its scabbard.

     The silver-haired man whipped his head around frantically in a vain attempt to catch even a fleeting glimpse of what was out there. The grass rustled behind him and Kamui turned just in time to watch a figure fade into view, not but a silhouette in the thick black haze. Familiar shades of blue, white, and black caught Kamui’s eye and caused relief to wash over him but such a feeling was short-lived.

     Lilith looked like she’d seen better days when she stumbled through the curtain of smoke; her dress was tattered, covered with soot, and something dark was spattered over the front. She slumped forward and started to fall but Kamui was by her side to pull her into his arms with lightning speed before she was even close to touching the ground. When she met her brother’s eyes, he couldn’t see the warmth that could normally be found in those golden irises; it had been entirely replaced by a look of fear and desperation.

     “Lilith, what happened to you?” He brushed her messy, singed hair from her face and tried to make his voice sound soft and concerned but his question came out panicked and desperate. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Movement out of the corner of his eye caused him to pull his ruby gaze from his sister but when he looked up, there was nothing.

     “K-Ka…mui…” Lilith just barely managed to wheeze out the syllables of his name. “R-ru-“ Another flash of movement out of the corner of Kamui’s eye and Lilith interrupted herself with a shallow gasp, jerked backward, and went limp.

     “S-Sister? Lily?” Aside from shallow breathing, there was no response. “Lily, speak to me! Please! Lily!” What little light was left in her eyes had faded. Tears pricked in Kamui’s eyes and his vision quickly blurred. He moved to pull her closer to him again and his eyes went wide when he brushed her lower back and felt something warm, wet, and sticky against his glove.

     He hesitantly looked up to see someone with long light hair looking down at him with a cold, silvery gaze. The newcomer pointed their sword at him, the blade slick with what Kamui could only guess was his sister’s blood. “Why do you run?” The figure asked in a deep voice. His tone, surprisingly, had more of a genuinely curious lilt to it rather than anything one would expect to hear from someone who would kill an innocent girl in cold blood and then threaten said girl’s older brother with the very weapon he used for the job.

     Kamui stared up at him, baffled. He kept trying to grasp the situation but he couldn’t, especially not with the roar in the back of his mind that scattered his thoughts every time he tried to collect them.

     “There is work to be done.” The deep voice explained. He still held that curious lilt and every word had an uneasy emphasis and an awkward pause between them as if he were unused to speaking. They offered him a hand but still kept their sword at the ready.

     The long-haired one continued to speak but his words fell on deaf ears, for all Kamui could hear was the rush of blood in his veins. Dragonstone in hand, he launched himself at his sister’s killer with a mighty roar. Not the shout of an angered man, but the primal cry of an enraged dragon.

* * *

     The young dragon opened his eyes to find himself looking at a clear sky, lit faintly by the gray of early dawn. He could still hear the rush of blood in his ears, he could still hear his sister’s shallow breathing, still see the fear in her eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut to try to stop the flow of tears, swore, and slammed his fist into the dirt.

     Nightmares where he lost his sister weren’t uncommon for Kamui, but he’d never seen something like this before. He’d never seen her killed before his very eyes before, never held her as she died in his arms before. How had he not noticed that she was partially run through with the sword that did it still embedded in her back? How had he not sensed the presence of her assailant out in the smoke?

     Then again, it was a dream; it didn’t have to make sense. It was just a dream. _Just a dream, just a dream._ This was the mantra that Kamui repeated to himself over and over, his usual attempt to calm himself after the worst of nightmares.

     “Just a dream, just a dream.” He muttered to himself as he pushed himself to his feet. He looked to his left and found Yato right where he left it: sheathed in its scabbard, leaned against a large rock. He closed his eyes and released a long sigh. He didn’t keep his eyes shut for long, however, as that only brought back the image of those cold silver eyes that pierced through him to send a shudder down his spine. They found him every time he closed his eyes for anything longer than a blink.

     “Just a dream, just a dream.” He shook himself off again, returned Yato to where it belonged at his side, and took off running towards Lydeus once more in the hopes that stretching his legs with the wind in his face would help clear his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoo, boy. It took three months to get here but here we are! Let me tell you, figuring out how to string the super early and mid-to-late plot threads together was a pain in the ass but I think I've found a pretty good solution. Things are only going to go up from here as I have now found a way to keep the plot moving smoothly. This chapter is a little...eh...but, even without filler, getting everything ready for the plot to really get moving can be a tedious process.
> 
> The good news is that this sees the end of pretty much all of the slow introduction chapters so I can actually get things moving starting with the next chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kamui finally reaches his destination but finishing the last leg of his journey is only the first part of his quest to save his father. All the while, the turmoil within him has slowly been coming to a boil.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, again, for the delay. This chapter was a beast and huge sections of it had to be rewritten multiple times and I had a lot of clashing ideas with where this chapter was headed. All that aside, enjoy!

     The moon was high in the sky, peeking out of a sea of clouds when Kamui finally came close enough to the humans’ capital city of Lydeus to see the gate and guardhouse. Normally, he would have stopped to rest not long after nightfall, but he was so close that he forced himself onward despite the ache in his legs.

     Three days; it took three days of almost nonstop travel to bring him to the city gates. Three days of minimal hunting and resting to bring him to stand face to face with a pair of stone-faced guards. They eyed him with ill-concealed suspicion and stood ready to draw their weapons at a moment’s notice.

     Kamui had run through the scenario in his mind over a dozen times and, from what he understood, if he told them who he was they would doubt and ridicule him at best and try to kill him at worst. If he could enter the city walls without revealing who he really was, then there was nothing to be gained in doing so.

     “Under orders from Her Majesty, Queen Arete, all must pass a routine inspection before being allowed entrance to the city.” One of the guards barked at him when he approached. After a quick look up and down, he added. “Though, it looks like you don’t have much to inspect. Is this everything you brought with you?”

     “Yes, this is everything.” Kamui affirmed with a nod.

     “Are you arriving ahead of the rest of your group or what?” The second guard asked, his head tilted in confusion.

     “No, I’m alone.” The young dragon shuffled anxiously.

     “So, you’re alone and you’ve brought nothing with you?” The first of the guards was incredulous. Kamui simply nodded his head. “Hey, what’s that hanging off your belt?”

     “Huh? Oh, uh…” Kamui moved his dragonstone closer to the light. “It’s…a keepsake from my mother and father.” He explained quietly with a desperate hope within him that they wouldn’t question it further.

     One of the guards squatted down for a closer look and then let out a low whistle. “That’s some keepsake you’ve got there, kid.”

     “So, where are you coming in from?” The other guard asked after he audibly cleared his throat.

     “Southern Cadros Province, near the border of Taderin Province.” While he might not have been telling the truth in its entirety, it still wasn’t a lie.

     “And your reason for coming here?”

     “Pilgrimage.” Again, not the entire truth, but not exactly a lie.

     The guards asked him a few more questions, such as how long he was planning on staying, (“I can’t say for certain, but I’ll finish my business and leave as soon as I can.”) if he’d recently come into contact with anyone deathly ill, (“No.”) and if he had any outstanding arrest warrants in other towns or cities. (“No.”)

     Satisfied with the inspection, one of the guards called over the wall for the gate to be raised. Kamui carried himself into the city tall and proud but pride wasn’t at the forefront of his mind. Instead, what dominated his thoughts was the sudden realization that he had no plans at all.

     He hadn’t planned ahead in the slightest. The young dragon had a vague plan to meet with the Royal Family and discuss matters of his father’s dwindling control over his power but hadn’t thought things through enough to realize exactly how much easier said than done it would be to get an audience.

     When he first set out, he thought that his lineage would be enough to grant him the status to request an audience on such short notice, though that hope was crushed days ago after his run-in with those two groups of humans. From what he had gathered so far - which was, admittedly, very little - the public’s opinion of his father was still quite low so, the odds were possibly against his favor by no small margin.

     Kamui grabbed his dragonstone as his thoughts began to spiral out of control and took deep, shuddering breaths, and focused on the chill that seeped into his veins to help reign in his thoughts. That was a temporary solution, however. Time and time again, he had been reminded by his father to never hold his emotions in for too long lest they get the better of him. He would deal with that later, though. He needed to come up with a plan or find a place to rest; _something_ other than rampage in the middle of the city. The young dragon began to aimlessly wander the streets, lost in thought and muttering to himself.

    “There’s bound to be some sort of library of historical texts involving my father and our people so, searching there would probably be my best bet if discussing matters directly with the king and queen is out of the question.” Kamui reasoned with himself under his breath. “But, of course, such important and sensitive information would probably be in the private royal library…which is, more than likely, in Castle Gyges and that brings me right back to square one. Dammit.”

     Of course, there was also probably a library that was open to the public, but it was unlikely that anything important concerning the humans’ powerful neighbors to the south would be left where an angry public could destroy it or, worse, weaponize it.

     Kamui let out an aggravated sigh and pulled a hand back through his hair while he leaned his back against one of the buildings in the alley he was walking through and slowly slid down into a sitting position. Kamui let his head fall forward and leaned it back against the wall with a gentle but oddly satisfying force. He pulled his head forward and leaned back again, a little more forcefully this time; he repeated the motion several times and muttered self-deprecatory comments to himself as he did so.

     He stopped after a few repetitions and stared at the sky, or what he could see of it beyond the eaves overhead. It was a cloudy night. It had been a cloudy day, as well, but the clouds had begun to part and the sky no longer seemed ready to burst at any given moment, as it had been for most of the day since he woke up.

     It wasn’t until he reflected on how he had spent the day hoping that the coming rain wouldn’t impede his progress that he realized just how exhausted he was. Kamui woke up not long after dawn and had continued his journey deep into the night. While he was nowhere near his breaking point, he could tell how far he had pushed himself on the last leg of his journey. 

     Kamui stretched and let out a quiet yawn, secretly wishing to be out in the wilderness once again. Sleeping with his back to a tree trunk or curled up in a patch of grass might not have been ideal but at least grass and soil had more give than the flagstones beneath him. Even so, when he unfolded his legs and stretched them out in front of him, he quickly found that he was exhausted enough to appreciate just lying down and couldn’t really complain about not having a comfortable place to sleep. The young dragon let out another yawn, folded his arms at his chest, leaned his head back until it connected with the wall, and slumped to the side until his shoulder brushed his cheek.

-

     “Mama?” Kamui could just barely make out her sleeping figure in the faint moonlight. At the sound of his voice, she stirred and slowly sat up.

     “Kamui? What are you doing out of bed, sweetie?” Her voice was as gentle as ever but tired and strained.

     “B-bad dweam…” The silver-haired boy sniffled. “C-can I sweep wif you?” The moment his words left his lips, Mama pushed herself to stand up and cross the room to scoop him into her arms, regardless of how much she struggled due to the swell of her stomach.

    “Of course, you can, sweetie.” She cooed. Kamui buried his face in the crook between her neck and shoulder and started to cry. Mama gently stroked his hair and shushed him gently. “It’s okay, Kamui. Mama’s here and she’s going anywhere.”

     At this, the poor boy began to bawl. He clutched the loose fabric of Mama’s nightgown like his life depended upon it. She continued to stroke his hair and gently shush him as she got back in bed. She held him close and let him cry.

     Kamui didn’t last long against the combination of his exhaustion and Mama soothing him. His wails soon died down until they were little more than whimpers.

     “Feeling better, my little dragon?” Mama asked. Kamui quietly shook his head. She pulled back slightly to brush his bangs from his face and wipe the tears from his cheeks. “Do you want me to sing for you?” She asked with that same gentle smile she always had.

    “Mhm…” Kamui hummed tiredly. His parents’ bed always seemed pretty big but, with just him and Mama there, it felt even bigger; it felt empty. He huddled back closer to Mama with the hope that it might not seem so empty in her arms. She gladly held him close, quietly cleared her throat, and started to sing.

     “In the sea below, or in the clouds up high,” Her singing voice was as gentle as always; a quiet melodious voice that started to calm him from the first few notes. “I’ll be by your side to sing this lullaby.” Mama paused in her song to plant a kiss on Kamui’s forehead.

     “Rest now, little dragon, do not cry.”

-

     A sharp prod in his side caused Kamui to jolt from his slumber. He flailed in momentary panic, which resulted in him smacking the side of his head into the wall he rested against. He looked around wildly until his eyes settled on three figures that stood to his right, looking down at him.

     It was hard to make out in the darkness, but the three figures were all dressed similarly in dark cloth armor that had a wide, lighter stripe down the middle. The waning moon in the sky provided just enough light for the unsheathed sword that one of them carried to glint through the night’s veil. When his eyes alighted on the sword, Kamui instinctively shied away from it.

     “What are you doing here?” The one with the drawn sword asked. “I’m Collector for this area and I’ve never seen you before and you don’t look like no guard.”

     “Huh? Uhh, you don’t need to worry about me.” The young dragon let out a nervous laugh. On instinct, his right hand began to creep towards the sword at his hip. Even with the darkness giving him a slight element of surprise, he turned his body to keep his right hand hidden and kept his movements slow.

     “’Ey! Watch it!” One of the others reached behind himself and swung something long and thin from his back to his side, likely a lance. “Up, now! ‘f you know what’s good for you!” Kamui’s hands shot up to be level with his silver hair.

     “Look, I don’t want any trouble. I just needed a place to sleep. Do you need me to move or something?” He asked as he pushed himself to his feet. He took a step back, his hands once again level with his head.

     “Oh, you must be new in town.” The man with the drawn sword mused. “Let me tell you how it works, here. Y’see, the queen in her castle is nothing but talk. In reality, our boss owns this town. That means that you’re on his land. Everyone is welcome on the boss’s land so long as they pay their due. Y’see where I’m going with this?”

     “What do you mean your boss “owns this town?” Why bother passing control to a local government when this city is the seat of power for the entire kingdom?” His question was a diversion, yes, but his confusion was genuine.

     “Let just say it’s not, uh, entirely official. Either way, it’s none of your business.” The swordsman took a step closer but, for every one step closer he took, Kamui took two steps back. “You don’t need to know specifics, you just need to know that you’re gonna need to pay up if you plan on staying here. If you don’t, we’re, uh…we’re gonna have some problems, you and us.”

     “”Pay up.” You keep saying that. What, exactly, does that mean?” The young dragon backed up further until he exited the alley onto a wide road it connected to.

     “I don’t know if you’re actually stupid or just acting like it but, either way, you need to be taught a lesson.” The so-called collector’s sword glinted in the faint light as it was leveled at the silver-haired dragon.  “You need to learn who the Condors are!” His companions fanned out to surround the young dragon before them.

     Kamui lowered his hands until they were about waist level and then his right hand darted to Yato’s hilt and unsheathed the golden blade while he slipped into a defensive stance. The moment he did so, he caught a very vague movement out of the corner of his eye as the third assailant – who had still yet to say a word – rushed him. The young dragon just barely raised Yato in time to catch a blow from an incoming broadsword and stop the blade a mere inch away from a weak spot in the large, scale-like plates that encased his shoulder.

     Despite himself, Kamui flashed a grin and pushed back against the incoming force with as much might as he could muster with one arm to send the swordsman stumbling backward before they ultimately fell on their bottom. The cocky grin on his face was short-lived, however, as a jab from a lance caught him in the side to draw a cry of surprise and pain from him and force him to stumble from his defensive poise. The blow hadn’t even come close to penetrating his armor but, with the formfitting nature of it, he still felt quite a bit of the impact force as it slammed into the side of his ribcage.

     After he regained his balance, the young dragon darted towards the barely visible silhouette of the lancer in a zig-zag patterned series of lunges – right then left then right again. Kamui kept his momentum going and raised Yato to nick the man in the shoulder and rip through his cloth armor on his way past. He skittered to a halt a few feet away and then turned towards the three adversaries that stood up the road from him.

     Kamui panted slightly and felt every beat of his heart pulse through his body. The cramped heat of draconic rage already began to seep through his chest and core and he didn’t have the time to properly suppress it. All he could do was focus on trying to remain in control but, as he was focused entirely on his inner world, the ground had suddenly slipped out from under him only to meet him again as he crashed down on his back. He looked up and caught only the faintest traces of movement in the darkness as clouds moved to block out the moon’s light once again.

     Kamui rolled to the side and just in time way to evade a downward vertical slash. He moved to push himself up but a boot stepped firmly on his left wrist to hold him down. He began to struggle against it but, the moment he did, a loud _clang_ met his ears as something slammed into the ground less than an inch away from his head.

     “Never woulda thought a scruffy, puny little rat like you could give us so much trouble.” He recognized the frustration and contempt-laden voice as the lancer’s. “But this is where your little game ends.”

     With his left arm still firmly pinned to the ground and without the leverage to fight against the pressure that held it there, the young dragon did all he could think to do: he raised his left leg and kicked out blindly. His kick connected – right between his assailant’s legs, if he had to guess – and the man’s breath left him all at once in a strained wheeze. The pressure keeping his left arm pinned eased up and Kamui capitalized on it immediately.

     He quickly got back on his feet and backed away. His hand shot to his dragonstone and his fingers curled around the cold jewel tightly. The silver-haired man didn’t want to do this; he knew the consequences of willing a transformation when he felt such rage within himself, but he was at a clear disadvantage: his light hair and light, reflective armor left him a sitting duck; he needed to level the playing field. There was a brief flash through the darkness and then all became clear.

     The low light almost vanished entirely as the dark blue veil wrapped itself around his vision but, now, Kamui could “see” everything. His antennae lashed around violently with his elevated heart rate so the sensory response was dulled but it was still a damn sight better than trying to see in the dark.

     “The hell was that flash?” The lancer whispered to one of the two swordsmen. “Y’think it was some kinda magic?”

     “Doesn’t matter. We outnumber him and that armor practically glows in the dark.” The swordsman started towards Kamui with his weapon held low at his side. The young dragon could sense the man ready an attack by the shift in his posture and darted forward in response. The very edge of Yato’s blade nicked the man across the face on his way past and the swordsman roared in pain.

    The faint scent of blood that danced on the air intensified and Kamui’s mind began to blank. He had already been fighting to stay in control but his current situation created the perfect storm to bring about an unwanted rampage; a violent cocktail of suppressed emotions had been brought to a boil by the heat of battle and then topped off with a deep-seated, primal satisfaction with having drawn the blood of his enemy. When combined with his current transformation, even if it was only a partial one, it was enough to tip him over the edge and allow the beast within to seize control.

     Kamui’s chest heaved. He threw his head back and unleashed a roar that came from both man and dragon. The two voices reverberated against each other to create a sound truly otherworldly. In his last moments of control, he noticed a very faint light through the blue veil over his eyes as the clouds parted.

     Gasps. Screams. Words of fear. These sounds broke the air. He could sense them out there. All three started to back away. _No escape. Lesser creatures. Dared threaten me. They must fall._ One turned to run. He was fast but Kamui was faster. He leapt for a tackle. He was already in the air when he remembered _no claws. Wait…Sword!_ He lashed out with the sword in his hand on his way down. A scream of agony. The thud of a body against the ground.

     The body tried to push itself up. _Feeble._ Kamui slammed his foot down on its lower back. A groan. He slashed with his sword. Again. Again. Again. A scream from every slash. Blood from every slash. He could sense it fly from the wounds. He could feel it spatter parts of him. _Lesser creature. Dared threaten me. MUST FALL!_ He slashed one last time. Full strength. No scream. Only a quiet groan. A gurgle. Silence.

     Others nearby. Still there. Watching. Shivers of fear. Frozen. A defiant roar. Hurried footsteps. Incoming lance attack. It glanced off Kamui’s chest plate. He grabbed the lance shaft. A quick downward pull. Wood splintered. Slow backward footsteps. Kamui thrust with his sword. A gasp. Weight pulled on his sword. Kamui pulled his sword back. Another thud of a body against the ground.

     Kamui panted. There was still movement. Faint. Shudders. Gasps. A body crouched low to the ground. Words of fear. Words of fear repeated. Words of fear. Kamui slashed out. The words stopped. _Dared threaten me. Lesser creatures. They fell. Pathetic._ Sword arm went limp. Drops of blood against stone. Kamui walked away. His chest slowly stopped heaving. His breathing began to regulate itself.

     The fog over his mind lifted. Kamui touched his dragonstone and willed his body to take a fully human shape to look upon the havoc he wrought with his own eyes. The moment he saw what he had done, he could feel his stomach rise into his throat. He squeezed his eyes shut and turned away. The dark of night hid the details from him but there was no mistaking the pools of blood he’d created.

     They cast the first stone; they threatened him without just cause, but that didn’t make any of this right. Nobody deserved to die in such a horrific manner. Kamui cursed himself for losing control. He cursed himself for _allowing_ himself to lose control. He cursed himself for refusing to do what was necessary to prevent this from happening.

     For the first time since he left home, Kamui failed to find the strength to even pretend to hold himself tall and proud; there was no pride to be had in what he had done. He could wipe the blood from his sword and armor, he could wash the stains from his capes, but no downpour, no matter how heavy, could wash away the weight of his failure. All he could do was walk away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rampage scenes are always both a struggle and a joy to write as it forces me to simplify my language but I can get away with so much more with so little. For instance, the one in this chapter is, without question, the single most brutal thing I have ever written, and it's the total lack of any specific detail that makes the scene. With how simple and single-minded the writing is, the detail of the situation isn't even given, so it's left entirely up to reader interpretation. Of every scene I've written for this fic so far, that has to be my favorite, without question.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The dawn sheds new light over the acts of savagery committed in the dead of night. Lydeus unknowingly begins to feel the presence of a certain young dragon just as his absence begins to take its toll back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter can be considered an "Interlude" of sorts as all it really does is tie up a couple loose plot threads as well as prepare the story for a few more in a more organic way than I would have been able to do otherwise.
> 
> This seriously should have been done a week ago, maybe even two, and I have nothing to say for myself. 
> 
> In other news, Silver Scale now has an official beta reader/editor! Hooray!

     “Yeah, no doubt about it. All this blood made it damn near impossible to tell at first, but these men are definitely Condors.” The lieutenant’s push from a squat to a stand was heralded by a quiet grunt and the sound of his light armor shifting.

     “Hey, cheer up, Lieutenant! This means that someone other than us is finally taking a stand against these wretched criminal scums.” One of the other guards pointed out; he was young and new to the force, barely even a private. “That just makes our job easier, right?”

     “No, my boy, this is absolutely nothing to smile over.” Lieutenant Lysander placed his arm on the private’s shoulder. Until recently, Lysander was normally a very cheerful man and that served as an inspiration to his subordinates. Now, the blonde man’s tone matched the scene around them: grim and disgusted.

     Though he was still in his twenties, the young lieutenant had seen a lot. Even so, he had never seen anything even remotely like the scene he found himself in. It was the most horrific thing he had ever laid eyes upon and, immediately upon taking in the sights and smells of the past carnage, he had doubled over and vomited. He didn’t even think there could be so much blood from only three victims.

     “Lieutenant, come over here.” One of the nearby sergeants beckoned him over to the most brutalized of the three; his cloth armor was ripped to shreds and there was a multitude of deep gashes gouged into his back. Thankfully, Lysander didn’t have to see that, as the body had been turned over to face chest up.

     “Look familiar?” The jade-haired sergeant asked as she gestured to the man’s face. Lysander’s chocolate-brown eyes narrowed in thought before they widened in sudden realization. He reached into one of the pouches on his belt and produced a piece of parchment and unfolded it to reveal a wanted poster that had an almost perfect resemblance to the corpse he stood over.

     “By the gods.” Lysander breathed. “The infamous Star Rose District Collector.” The man in question had been speculated to be a high-ranking member of Condor. He had spent the majority of the last two years terrorizing the people of his territory, threatening them if they didn’t pay his “protection fee.” The Lydeus Guard’s first encounter with him and his posse hadn’t ended well but there were no major casualties suffered. At first, the Guard thought he made a mistake by letting them see his face and live to tell the tale. This hardly proved the case.

     “The one and only.” The sergeant’s voice carried poorly disguised tones of disgust and resentment.

     Not only had he managed to evade every taskforce the Guard sent out to find him for months on end between encounters, every single one of said encounters ended poorly for the side of justice. In fact, the most recent encounter – which was less than a week shy of three months ago – had ended with unprecedentedly heavy casualties.

     “Isn’t he responsible for the slaughter of no less than fourteen of our finest?” The young private asked. Lysander regarded him with a silent nod.

     “As if him robbing the good people of Lydeus blind wasn’t enough, he seemed to be hellbent on crippling our ability to protect them.” The lieutenant was only a lieutenant due to Command’s emergency promotions. “If rumors about this man are to believed, then I shudder to imagine the kind of brute strength it must have taken to bring him down.” Images of a man of monstrous height and bulk flashed through Lysander’s mind.

     “Well, he’s finally dead and so are some of his men, so why do you say that this isn’t something to smile over?” The private met the lieutenant’s even brown gaze with his own hazel one. “We’ve got at least one ally in our fight against these bastards out there and-“ He ceased his prattling when a hand in a brown glove held up a single finger for silence.

     Lysander stooped over to pick up the Collector’s sword; it was almost completely unmarred by the blood that stained the armor and clothing of its former wielder. “Look at this sword closely, Private. There’s not much blood marking it, is there?”

     It took several moments for the young man to realize that, though his question had an obvious answer, it was not rhetorical. “N-no, sir.”

     “And none of it’s near the tip. It’s mostly near the cross-guard, wouldn’t you say?” The lieutenant gestured to the traces of dried blood on the lower half of the blade.

     “Yes, sir.” The private’s cap shuffled on his head slightly when he nodded.

     “Do you have any guesses why that might be, Private?” Lysander looked at the young man expectantly out of the corner of his eye.

     He swallowed the nervous lumps in his throat and ventured a guess. “I…Because the wielder never drew blood?”

     “Exactly. It’s the same situation with the other weapons, too.” Lysander stooped to place the sword as close to where he originally found it as he could. When he rose again, he met the private’s eyes directly once more, with a very serious look in his own eyes.

     Those hazel eyes quivered but they dared not stray from their superior. The boy shrank under the intensity of his acting commander’s gaze. “I guess you can’t really call it a fight if they didn’t draw blood.” He said after he finally remembered how to form a coherent sentence.

     “This was no fight, my boy. Whoever did this slaughtered these men like a wolf among lambs.” Lysander placed his hand on the private’s shoulder once more. “That is why this is not something to smile over; nobody deserves to die such a horrific death.”

* * *

     Mid-morning light glinted off the rippling surface of the stream and the scales of the fish that swam therewithin. The current’s gentle flow was interrupted when a bucket was lowered into its waters. The water surged and splashed against wood as the bucket filled. Lilith stared on listlessly, her gaze fixed on her task but her mind entirely elsewhere. She looked up from the stream to the near-cloudless sky.

     The wind carried earthy and vaguely metallic scents on its breath as it blew away what few clouds dotted the endless pastel expanse above. It was the kind of idyllic morning that would have seen the blue-haired girl practically drag her brother out of bed to swim laps in the spring. Throughout the years, there had only been a handful of times that she'd managed to outswim Kamui, though he denied any of them ever happening every time she brought it up.

     Lilith smiled to herself as she remembered the exaggerated look of shock and horror on her older brother’s face the first time she actually managed to outswim him.

     A startled yelp escaped Lilith’s lips when a gentle voice sounded close behind her. “Are you trying to collect water or fish?”

     “Oh, uh, sorry, Father. I didn’t notice you there.” The black-and-blue-haired girl let out a nervous chuckle after she got over her initial surprise.

     “That’s quite alright, my girl.” Anankos took a seat on the stream bank to her right and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

     Lilith forced out another bout of nervous laughter before she allowed herself to lean sideways into her father’s embrace, though her posture was tense and her shoulders were stiff. If he noticed, the elder dragon said nothing, though the reassuring squeeze he gave her shoulder was quite telling.

     “I see you’ve taken up your brother’s job of getting entirely absorbed in thought in his absence.” Anankos let out a quiet laugh. It didn’t sound genuine in the slightest.

     When Lilith didn’t respond at all, he let his façade drop. “You’re worried about him, aren’t you?”

     “Kamui can take care of himself. He’s an excellent hunter and anyone who would try to pick a fight with him would just be building their own funeral raft.” The black-and-blue-haired girl’s tone wasn’t unlike her posture.

     “That may be, but that doesn’t answer my question.” Anankos turned his head slightly to look his daughter in the eyes. She avoided his amber gaze to, instead, look at her feet. Without even thinking about it, her hands drifted up to her nervously play with the loose strands of hair at the end of her braid.

     “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him act so…so…distant. Before he left, he was trying to hold me at arm’s length and, from what Mother told me, I guess he did the same thing with her.” Lilith’s tense posture melted and her shoulders slouched. “It was so obvious that something was hurting him but he kept trying to push me away.” The young dragon pulled her knees closer and slightly curled into herself.

     “Knowing Kamui’s out there, hurting and alone, I…” Lilith’s voice grew thick and hoarse. “You’re right, I am worried about him…”

     Wordlessly, Anankos turned to fully face his daughter and pulled her closer into his embrace. Tears welled in the draconic girl’s eyes to give them a glassy look. “H-how could I not be worried? H-he didn’t even say g-goodbye…” Lilith’s tears spilled over and she buried her face in her father’s baggy cloak, the light fabric muffling her quiet hiccups and sniffles.

     When she closed her eyes, all Lilith could see were the pained smiles Kamui had given her the day before he disappeared. She’d seen him hurt before, but never like that. Memories of the almost broken look in his ruby eyes threatened to tear her heart in two.

     As Lilith’s body began to shudder from her sobs, her father’s hug tightened ever so slightly. “Kamui knows what’s important. He’ll be home before long; I’m certain of it.”

* * *

 

     “If I had to guess, it was after midnight but long before dawn. It was still dark out when I got woken up by that…by that _awful_ noise.”

     “This noise that woke you up, could you describe it for me?” Lysander set his mug of tea on the table and tented his hands at collarbone level.

     “It was…it was like a man roaring viciously. But it was all echoey and it…it almost didn’t even sound human.” The young woman sitting across from the lieutenant shuddered and tightly wrapped the blanket draped over her shoulders around herself. “Then there was the screaming. Multiple voices, all screaming in fear.”

     The woman’s gaze moved to stare deep into her tea. “Mostly…they were screaming wordlessly…but they started screaming f-for someone…s-some _thing_ to leave them alone, to spare them. One by one, the screams started to sound more pained than afraid. Then, suddenly, everything fell quiet…”

     Lysander was at a loss for words. There was more than enough evidence to show that whatever had happened was a bloodbath, but the description of what it sounded like left the blonde man with a twisted sense of gratitude at already having emptied the contents of his stomach. It was one of the most harrowing accounts he had ever heard and all of it lined up perfectly with the scene of the incident. Almost all of it, anyway. The only thing he didn’t believe was the roar, which he attributed to the witness not being fully alert, given that she had only just woken up at the time of the incident.

     The lieutenant looked up from the depths of his tea when he realized they had been sitting in tense silence for several minutes. He audibly cleared his throat and moved to stand up. “Thank you for telling me about what you heard and for the tea. I should be going now.”

     “O-of course. Goodbye…” The young woman gave a half-hearted wave as the blonde man let himself out.

* * *

     “Yeah, that sounds a lot like the story I heard.” The jade-haired sergeant nodded to herself after her acting commander finished recounting the story he heard. “The man I talked to said he was in his kitchen preparing some tea when he heard shouting and a series of metallic clangs. Then, there was some gods awful screeching noise and everyone started screaming for their lives.”

     Lysander pulled his lips into a tight frown. “So, the man you talked to didn’t see anything, either, eh, Anthea?”

     “Well, he _did_ mention looking out a window and seeing a bright flash, like from some kind of magic, shining through an alleyway.” She noted. “That’s not much to go on, though.”

     The lieutenant began to walk back towards the scene of the incident and beckoned the sergeant to follow him. He crossed his arms behind his lower back, one hand cupped in the other, and let out a thoughtful hum. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his compatriot watching his expression nervously. He and Anthea had known each other long enough for her to understand how deep in thought he was from his body language.

     The sergeant’s bob cut bounced as she shook her head in disbelief.  “You’re not seriously thinking of trying to go after whoever did this, are you Ly?”

     “I’m not doing anything, yet. There’s nothing to go on.” Lysander said stiffly.

     “You’re damn right that there’s nothing to go on!” Anthea’s tone was one of exasperation and she gesticulated wildly as she spoke. “We’ve got a trail of footprints but it leads straight to a fountain and then vanishes entirely!” When the lieutenant regarded her sternly, she broke eye contact, took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly yet sharply.

     “Look, Ly, the fountain’s crystal clear so we can’t even assume he washed away the evidence.” The two had reached a courtyard half the street up from the scene of the incident.

     “What, do you think whoever did this sprouted wings and flew away?” Lysander let out a quiet laugh despite himself. “People don’t just disappear into thin air, Anthea.”

     “Hey, you never know Ly-Guy! I heard dragons can make themselves look like humans!” Anthea elbowed her friend and acting commander in the ribs. “I almost forgot how easy on the eyes your smile is, considering you’ve had a stick up your ass almost all the time since you got promoted. It’s a nice contrast to the hellhole we’ve been poking around all morning.” The sergeant flew in the face of the Guards’ nonfraternization policy as she flashed a flirtatious smirk.

     In his surprise, Lysander stumbled and just barely averted tripping over himself. When he recovered his balance, he awkwardly cleared his throat and shot Anthea a gaze that most people would have shrank under. Instead, the young woman grew red in the face as she struggled to keep herself from laughing.

     “Is there something funny that you want to share, Sergeant?” Lysander voice carried something vaguely threatening in its tones and his expression graduated from stone-faced disapproval to a hawkeyed leer.

     Now it was the jade-haired woman’s turn to try not to make a fool out of herself in her flustered state. “N-nothing, sir! Nothing at all!”

     “That’s what I thought.” The lieutenant said sternly as he briskly walked away.

     Anthea pushed herself into a jog to catch up, body swaying slightly under the sudden drastic change in emotion she felt. When she caught up to the blonde man, she took a moment to fall in step with him and then allowed her expression to soften into one of curiosity.

     “Ly, I need you to be honest with me.” Her voice was sternly composed but there was something underscoring it that almost made it sound pleading. “The guy who did this. Are you..? You’re thinking of trying to find them, aren’t you?”

     Lysander stopped and turned to look Anthea right in her pale blue eyes. His stony expression melted ever so slightly to give a glimpse into the turmoil that bubbled just below the surface. He took a deep breath and let it out as a forlorn sigh.

     “I don’t know.” He said finally. “Even if we did have something to go on to start our search, I don’t know if I would. All I know is that I don’t think I’m going to be sleeping tonight.”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Lady Lilith, Hero of Valla](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14799821) by [Man_Without_A_Plan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Man_Without_A_Plan/pseuds/Man_Without_A_Plan)




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